After missing out on the opportunity to enter the finals of the ongoing ICC World Cup 2019, India skipper Virat Kohli shed light on why wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni came out to bat at number seven against New Zealand. His remarks came after India’s 18-run loss against New Zealand in the semi-final in Manchester on Wednesday. Dhoni played a knock of 50 runs but was dismissed via run-out in the penultimate over.

“He was given this role of playing with the lower order after the first few matches. So that was the game plan. I think today Dhoni was batting with Jadeja. There had to be a good balance in the team, if one is striking the ball well, the other has to play second fiddle,” Kohli told reporters at the post-match conference.

When asked on Dhoni’s future in the ODI team, skipper Kohli replied: “He hasn’t told us anything about this matter”.

New Zealand produced a brilliant bowling performance to upset India with an 18-run victory.

The Black Caps will face the winners of Thursday’s semi-final between England and Australia in Sunday’s final at Lords. New Zealand added 28 runs to their overnight score from 23 balls to finish on 239 for eight -- a modest total India would have been confident of chasing down with ease.

But the Kiwi bowling attack turned the game around, taking three wickets in the opening 19 balls with tournament top scorer Rohit Sharma, skipper Virat Kohli and KL Rahul all dismissed for one.From a dire position of 24-4, however, India got themselves back in the game thanks to a superb 116-run seventh-wicket partnership between MS Dhoni (50) and Ravindra Jadeja (77), only to be bowled out for 221 with three balls remaining.

(With agency inputs)

First Published: Jul 10, 2019 23:29 IST